Friday, 17 January 2014

Best known for his role as Trigger in Only Fools and Horses, Roger Lloyd-Pack was such a distinguished actor he was never out of work with roles on stage and film as well as TV. From Kafka in Alan Bennet's Kafka's Dick to Osip in Chekhov's Wild Honey to Barty Crouch in Harry Potter. I first met Roger twenty years ago when he supported the work of War Child. In more recent years, he was an active supporter of the anti-war movement and when I helped organise fundraising events at the Stop the War Coalition, Roger said 'Yes' to all requests for help that came his way. When I called him, his only question was 'What would you like me to do?' For such a busy actor, this always amazed me. The last time I met him was when he used his acting talent to perform in The Trainer at the Hackney Empire, a play Anne Aylor and I wrote to raise money for the Gaza Music School which was destroyed in the Israeli attacks in 2009. Roger had been a supporter of the Labour Party, but last year was one of the signatories to a letter in the Guardian supporting Ken Loach and the formation of a new party of the Left—Left Unity. He leaves his mark on acting and political activism, but also in the teaching of philosophy. This clip from Only Fools and Horses is Trigger's attempt to explain 'The Ship of Theseus' paradox and is used in philosophy classes at universities. Now renamed 'Trigger's Broom' paradox.

He died on 15 January 2014, aged 69, from pancreatic cancer. Roger is a sad loss for us all.